This movie directed by Alan Pakula was released in 1988, starring Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Julia stiles, Natascha McElhone and Treat Williams.
Frank McGuire, as an eight year old Irish boy witnesses the murder of his father by English sympathizers. This incident hardens him and makes him a IRA operative. After a tense gun battle with the British Troops, Frank escapes to a safe house hotly pursued by Harry Sloan, a British Agent. Frank and Martin Macduff, another IRA operative plan to acquire surface to air missiles and Frank travels to New York to get them. Here he meets a Irish sympathizer judge Peter Fitzsimmons who puts him in touch with Tom O’Meara. Tom is a police officer and welcomes Frank with out knowing his antecedents. Frank, working under his alias Rory contacts the arms smuggler Burke who agrees to supply him with the missiles.
Frankie meets Peter Fitzsimmons who provide him with millions of dollars which he hides in Tom’s house. He also meets Megan, Fitzsimmon’s nanny who is attracted to him. Mega agrees to help him in his endeavors. Tom and his partner Eddie have problems of their own regarding their work. Slowly a friendship develops between Frank and Tom. It deepens when Frank helps to beat back masked intruders who threaten Tom and his wife Sheila. Frank checks up on his money and feels guilty of his treachery.

Meanwhile the crafty Burke kidnaps Sean, Frank’s fellow operative and holds him for ransom. Frank promises to pay him. Meanwhile Tom has found the money and questions Frank about the presence of such large amount of cash. Frank tells him about the kidnapping, but avoids mentioning the terrorism angle. Still Tom arrest Frank with the help of Eddie. When they are on the way to the Police station, Frank escapes, by knocking out Tom and kills Eddie during flight. He reaches Burke who has already killed Sean and tries to rob him off the cash. But Frank kills him and plans to escape with the missiles in the boat.
Meanwhile Tom questioned by his superiors and Harry Sloan comes to the starling realization that Frank is a wanted IRA terrorist. He plans to capture him to avenge Eddie’s death. He traces Frank to Megan and forces her to reveal his where abouts. As Frank is planning to leave with the boat Tom reaches him and a fierce gun battle ensures. Tom is injured and Frank emerges holding him at gun point. But Tom fatally shoots him and makes his way home.
This movie was a moderate commercial success and has nothing new in the plot. Harrison Ford delivers his time and tested police cop routine and Brad Pitt is excellent as young Frank. The premise of the story is very sympathetic to the cause of the terrorist and I feel it betrays the day to day realities. It is fine for an action film buff who is intent on filling up his day. But better films have been made on the same subject. See it if you must, pass it if you can.

This is a romantic movie set against the back drop of world war two starring Harrison Ford, Christopher Plummer and Leslie Anne Down. Written and Directed by Peter Hyams it is known for the splendid aerial fight sequences.
Set in London, Lieutenant David Halloran meets Margaret Sellinger at a tea stall near Hanover street and soon are attracted to each other. Margaret is very much married to a simple Paul Sellinger who is away at war; and she is attracted to the charismatic Halloran. Soon Halloran and Margaret meet clandestinely and fall rapidly in love irrespective of their other relationship.
Paul Sellinger is with the British intelligence, and is a simple school teacher who needs to prove himself. and is given an assignment of penetrating Nazi German Head quarters inn Lyons in France. He has to photocopy the list of all the double agents active in Britain. The task of delivering him across German lines falls in to the capable hands of Halloran.

The two men are not aware of each other and travel together to France. Here they are shot down and Halloran needs to help Sellinger who is grievously wounded. He agrees to accompany him on the mission and contact French Resistance troops. They get hold of an uniform and soon penetrate the German defenses and get hold of the papers.
But as luck could have it they are betrayed by a collaborator and flee with the papers with the SS hot on their heels. Halloran has worked out that Sellinger is the husband of Margaret and saves him from tight situations. So after many cliff hanger moments Halloran and Sellinger make it through not before Halloran giving up on his love.
Here Margaret in London comes to the conclusion that both the men she loves are in a mission together. Ultimately she manages to reach a wounded Sellinger and Halloran and has to choose between the two. Well no prizes for guessing who the lucky one is. Margaret says her good byes to Halloran and proceeds to look after her husband and her duties. Halloran who loves her so much to let her go, moves down Hanover street to his place.
Released in 1977 this movie was a commercial and critical failure. It is not hard to understand why, because the movie which harps so much on romance glosses over the attraction felt by the lead pair. The initial meeting scenes between the two doomed lovers are very irritating and clichéd that you feel like hitting them to get it over with. It dwells on the duties of husband and wife and its aerial fight sequences. It seems to have a quite a following for the action sequences, but as a romantic movie it is a dud.
Moreover the story is so predictable and moves at a snails pace that you almost feel sorry for Sellinger to have such a wife and friend. I wouldn’t recommend this tale of so called forbidden love, just watch some horror film instead. It will save you from ennui.

This movie is a sequel to the highly popular ‘Guns Of Navarone’ and is loosely based on Alistair MacLean’s novel of the same name. Directed by Guy Hamilton and stars Robert Shaw,Edward Fox, Harrison Ford, Carl Weathers, Barbara Bach, Franco Nero and Richard Kiel.
Miller and Mallory are back from Navarone and are sent on a mission to Yugoslavia to assist the war efforts and to neutralize a spy who escaped from Navarone. The German spy Nikolai is posing as Captain Lescovar and has infiltrated the Partisans and is undermining the war efforts of the allies in Eastern Europe. They join effort with the Force 10 unit headed by Captain Barnsby. They are air dropped over Yugoslavia and are captured by the Germans and their allies the Chetniks lead by Captain Drazak.
Drazak brings them before Captain Schroeder and the prisoners present themselves as Allied deserters who were court martialed. Schroeder is skeptical and opens their suitcase which is supposedly filled with Penicillin. To their surprise the suitcase contains wooden logs and they concoct a story about burying it on their way to capture. So Schroeder sends Mallory and Barnsby along with his trusted lieutenant Maritza and two other soldiers to retrieve the Penicillin. Maritza proves to be a partisan spy, and helps them to escape and meet Colonel Petrovich, the Partisan leader. Here Mallory recognizes Captain Lescovar and informs Petrovich about the spy. But Petrovich is not impressed and informs Mallory that the spy Nikolai was killed by himself. He asks them to focus on destroying the bridge to avoid attack by the German forces.

Mallory informs Petrovich that Miller is the real explosive expert and is held captive by the Chetniks. He forms a plan to rescue them along with Maritza. They infiltrate the camp and help Miller and others to escape. Miller informs them that the bridge is impregnable to explosives, but the force of tons of water from the dam nearby could do the trick. So Force 10 plans to destroy the dam instead and ask for supplies. But a sabotage by Lescovar foil the plan and Maritza is killed before she can stop him.
Miller and co plan to raid the German Yard for explosives while a dejected Petrovich plans to return to the head quarters. A daring raid which is suicidal in its planning with a spy Lescovar thwarting their actions is hell enough but the team is successful in the end. Lescovar is killed by an enraged Barnsby and they leave to destroy the dam. With German forces closing on them the bombs are set at a short fuse which makes their survival doubtful. But as they walk away the bombs detonate bringing the dam and the bridge down washing down the enemy hopes. The protagonist trapped on the wrong side of the river start the perilous journey home through enemy lands.
The movie was a box-office and critical disaster and even Ford is said to have disliked his role. I would prefer the book which has better action sequences compared to the insipid sequences in the movie. Just watch it to complete the Navarone Saga.

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. MacLean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Floodgate is the second book of Alistair MacLean to be set in Holland. The first was puppet on the chain which dealt with the Netherlands underground drug mafia. He brings in the familiar detective Peter van Effen who continues his sleuthing in this book.
Schipol airport in Amsterdam is flooded and the planes are floating around aimlessly. The dykes which kept the north sea out has been breached and the sea has devoured Schipol completely and the authorities are completely baffled. Peter Van Effen, the detective par excellence is brought in by the authorities. Soon FFF, an Irish Liberation force calls in claiming responsibility and threatens to carry on more strikes against the dykes. This pours in the panic as a breach through the dykes would submerge Holland completely under water.

Van Effen goes in to action and checks in all the employees of the airport. He suspects informants among the staff would have helped the terrorist. In the mean time the terrorist have acquired nuclear weapons and threaten to detonate them in the sea triggering a tsunami to submerge Holland.
He is ably assisted by beautiful assistant Annemarie Meijer, an heiress to a large fortune and other beautiful women. Van Effen is very close with to the dreaded underground gang the Krakers and enlist their help to combat the terrorist. Soon the game starts to outwit the terrorists. The FFF has to be stopped for the interest of Holland.
Soon the action hottens up with Agnelli the head of the Krakers gang along with his brothers infiltrate the gang and pass on information to Van Effen. Soon many operatives like Anne Marie and Marie are captured and held for ransom. The leader of the terrorist Samuelson is supposedly an earl who is motivated by revenge for the killing of his sons. Sometimes you feel that MacLean just awakens sympathies for his character even when he planning in human ways to kill.
But the ultimate action is ingenious, although a little tame for such a grand operation. Van Effen successfully gases all the terrorist unconscious and arrest all of them and rescue the hostages. Anne Marie and he predictably fall in love with each other and walk in to the sunset.
This may not be MacLean’s best books of the time but the plot is the winner. A very cleverly thought out action plan with with a tame ending is Floodgate. Still I would recommend it for its sheer clever storyline from MacLean.